With a positive day-after message to his 112,000-strong band of Twitter followers – "I'm going to keep my head down & enjoy a few days off, look after my body & start the road to recovery. I can't wait to get back out there!" – Nick Kyrgios plans to retreat to Canberra on Thursday to heal his weary 19-year-old body, presumably eat some of his mother's chilli beef and drink some chocolate milk.
After his straight-sets loss to Andy Murray in the second quarter-final from the seven majors he has contested, the dark under-eye circles revealed by the harsh lights of the interview room told of a lack of sleep during what Kyrgios called the "roller-coaster" ride that followed his slashing comeback against Andreas Seppi.
He will take a week off the practice court, while an MRI scan on his injured back on Friday will determine when Kyrgios resumes tournament play, and whether he will contest planned events in Marseilles from February 16 and then in Dubai. Doubtful, both.
He hopes, still, to be fit for Australia's first-round Davis Cup tie against the Czech Republic in Ostrava in early March.
Other than some costly mental dips against Murray, Kyrgios spoke of needing to improve physically, for he had been "hurting" during his two-hour senior debut on Rod Laver Arena.
He was also, clearly, hurt by the clinical professionalism and tactical smarts of the sixth seed, who Kyrgios noted had kept making him play and play.
"There were points I'd be winning five times over; he'd be making me play an extra ball. Those guys are unbelievable athletes. They're another level. I think that's what stands out most."
But Kyrgios is clearly far better in that respect than he used to be, considering the cramps that crippled him in the second round here last year.
He is, as he says, still growing into his body, and that will take time. The more immediate priority is to fix his back "until it's not giving me strife any more"; having played through pain, he was rightly proud of what he had achieved despite it.
Kyrgios will rise from 53rd to 35th in the rankings on Monday. Without any points to defend from now until mid-April, due to an elbow injury in 2014, he was nevertheless reluctant to put a number on his next ambition, despite retweeting some big figures from a Seven Network release detailing a peak of 3.5 million viewers against Murray and an average of 2.5 million nationally, which makes the much-hyped match the most-watched TV event of the summer.
"One of my goals is just to stay healthy," said Kyrgios. "I just want to stay on the court and obviously do what I love to do out there: play. I think that's my main goal with me and my team – keep me on the court for as long as possible this year."
Last season he played just 19 tour-level matches – and all but one of the 10 wins came in the majors. That was a stat noted by Murray, who was also supportive about the immense pressure on Kyrgios to succeed, and complimentary about a game he summarised as great serve (easy motion, and lots of free points), incredible talent (if lacking intensity at times), big forehand, flat backhand.
"Not many people have done what he's done at his age; to make two quarter-finals at slams as a teenager is very rare," Murray said.
He is, yes, still 19. We asked: when you come back here next year, where would you like to be?
Kyrgios: "Melbourne." No kidding.
Actually, as he was well aware, what we meant was: is top 20 or 30 within reach, for example?
"I think so," relented the star of the tournament, whose departure left Melbourne Park a quieter, duller place. "Yeah, I think if I stay healthy, keep enjoying it, then I think it's possible."
